First look: meet Fifty Shades of Grey's Christian Grey

First look of Fifty Shades of Grey (courtesy: Facebook).

Here's something for the fans of S&M romance 50 Shades of Grey to cheer about. Your favourite bad boy -- Christian Grey -- is a year older. To celebrate the big day, Universal Pictures and Focus Features released the first official still image from the Fifty Shades of Grey movie on Wednesday.

The image -- no prizes for guessing -- is of Jack Dornan as Christian Grey. In the picture, appropriately titled 'Happy Birthday Christian Grey', the former underwear model is seen sitting inside an Audi R8 and wearing a black leather jacket.

Looking appropriately smouldering, Dornan channels the S&M-obsessed lead character from the trilogy of bestsellers by EL James.

Dornan was not the first choice for the role and fans online are still divided on whether he will be able to do justice to the role. The makers had zeroed in on Charlie Hunnam but he left the project.

This is the first time we have seen the face of Dornan. Earlier clips shared by the filmmakers showed the back of the fictional character.

What is Fifty Shades of Grey?

The novels penned by James are about a college grad Anastasia Steele who falls for a handsome billionaire with a propensity for, ahem, rough sex.

The novels went on to break records and the film is one of the most awaited Hollywood projects.

The film will release on Valentine's Day in 2015 and is directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson. The film stars Dakota Johnson as Steele.